Catholics Probe Own Ethiopian Aid Effort

September 19, 1985|By United Press International.

WASHINGTON — John Cardinal Krol of Philadelphia will lead a special panel to investigate charges that the Roman Catholic Church`s relief agency has misled donors in its multimillion-dollar Ethiopian famine relief effort.

Bishop James Malone of Youngstown, Ohio, president of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, on Tuesday named Krol and Bishops John Keeng of Arlington, Va., and William Keeler of Harrisburg, Pa., to look into the charges against Catholic Relief Services and report to the conference before its November meeting.

CRS is an arm of the bishops` conference and its chairman of the board is Bishop Daniel Reilly of Norwich, Conn. Malone stressed the Krol committee had been formed in consultation with Reilly and the board.

``Although I have asked the committee to study recent public charges made against Catholic Relief Services, I emphasize that the intention is simply to clear the air so that CRS can get on with its important work,`` Malone said in a statement announcing the investigation.

Last month the New York Times reported allegations by former CRS staff members that the relief agency misled donors and failed to properly spend money collected in the past year for relief efforts in drought-stricken Ethiopia.

According to CRS figures published by the Times, the agency had spent only $9 million of the $50 million collected from the public since October, 1984.

In addition, critics charge that some money raised by the relief agency was sometimes loaned or applied to other agency programs and expenses.

The Times also reported that the relief organization--one of the largest and most prestigious U.S. agencies working in Africa--was being reviewed by the Agency for International Development, the government`s foreign aid agency.